View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive Looking Good, Feeling Good – Tac Map: a navigation system for the blind CHAMBERLAIN, Paul and DIENG, Patricia Available from Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/4637/ This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version CHAMBERLAIN, Paul and DIENG, Patricia (2011). Looking Good, Feeling Good – Tac Map: a navigation system for the blind. In: The role of inclusive design in making social innovation happen. RCA. (In Press) Repository use policy Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in SHURA to facilitate their private study or for non- commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive http://shura.shu.ac.uk „Looking Good, Feeling Good‟ – TacMap - a navigation system for the blind‟. Professor Paul Chamberlain MDesRCA, Patricia Dieng MA. Art & Design Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, UK Abstract This paper describes the research and development of a navigation system for the blind that provides a tactile and visual language that can be understood by both sighted and blind users. It describes key work and issues in the development of graphical symbols and in particular the pioneering work of Neurath‟s ISOTYPES, as well as more specific communication systems for blind people. The paper focuses on the development of „TacMap‟, a navigation system for the blind. User engagement has been fundamental in the research and the paper discusses the methodology, the research findings and product‟s potential future opportunities and impact. Keywords tactile graphics, haptics, inclusive design, human-centred design, accessibility, co- design TacMap Overview Traditional maps and plans use a combination of pictographs, ideographs, symbols and text to abstractly communicate space and the arrangements within it. The focus of our research explores how traditional graphics and architectural icons used in the design of maps and plans for sighted people are interpreted and understood by blind people through tactile translation. From this we hope to develop a series of optimum icons for use in the design of tactile maps that can also be understood easily by sighted people. The rationale for this is that the maps will often be created by people with sight and the maps are likely to be a communicative link between people with and without vision. An initial search revealed an incomplete range of tactile icons and also established there is no single international standard. The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and the Braille Authority of North America (BANA) are working on guidelines in the hope of developing standards for the production of tactile graphics. Our objective is to provide a system that can be adopted by non-experts to enable the creation of tactile maps for diverse locations of varied scales and customisable information. This will support autonomy, independence and safety to intended users through increased access to a variety of environments. There are many examples where „special‟ facilities have become ubiquitous in our society, e.g. access ramps and textured footpaths. The TacMap navigation system has been developed to change and improve the way visually impaired people plan their journeys, travel and move around exterior and interior spaces. Our aim is for blind people to better understand how a space, e.g. a building, is composed before or at the time they visit and understand the arrangement of this space. Such places would include hotels, museums, theatres, civic buildings, university buildings, sports arenas, schools, bus and train stations, and buildings where they work. Our research focuses on the development of the iconographic content of the maps as well as a system to create the tactile maps/plans. We have developed graphical software and the screen interface to enable the easy production of accessible information for visually impaired people. Design researchers and software developers at Sheffield Hallam University have worked in collaboration with the Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind to optimize the software and its interface and subsequently the design and production of the tactile maps (Fig 1). The maps are created on screen, with the support of a simple set of instructions, and then printed on a standard printer using “ink swell paper”. The printed maps are then passed through a special heater and the black ink swells to provide a raised tactile surface; the users can then „read‟ and translate the information through touch. Figure 1. TacMap screen based interface Towards an international language Context Although we found little that would inform our enquiry related to an iconography for the blind we must recognise the contribution work of Otto Neurath and others in our research. The Austrian philosopher of science, sociology, and political economist, Otto Neurath.conceived and developed an international picture language that became known as ISOTYPES ( International System Of TYpographic Picture Education), using self explanatory symbols based on scientific and psychological experiments. Neurath is widely acknowledged to have evolved the first theoretical framework for modern visual education and the effects of his pioneering work can be found in most of today‟s visual culture (Fig 2). Figure 2. Current road sign Figure 3. Isotype pictographs Just before his death in 1945 he completed his „visual autobiography‟ (Neurath 2010) in which he describes how the growing emancipated proletariat could be educated not through opaque scientific languages but directly illustrated straightforward images. Another proposed outcome of this work was that language and cultural barriers could also be overcome as isotypes would be universally understood. The idea was that images can bridge the differences between languages because it is easier to remember simplified images than exact figures. Political artist, Gert Arntz, was commissioned with the design of the Isotype‟s pictograms and visual signs. Published in Leipsig in 1930, his work „Bildstatistisches Elementarwerk‟ contains 100 visual charts, providing an overview of the essential empirical data of the world at the time. This publication is an example of the „Vienna method‟ to present generally accessible information regardless of language barriers with the aid of images (Fig 3). Key features of the isotypes were the use of colour combined with silhouetted forms which compels us to look at essential details and sharp lines where there is no defined backgrounds. Symbols are often combined: a symbol for a worker and a symbol for agriculture could be combined to make one symbol for an agricultural worker. Coincidentally from the perspective of our research and development of the TacMap Nuerath‟s second wife Olga Hahn was blind but there is no evidence to suggest he explored or developed his work in a tactile language1. Iconic language Neurath admired Egyptian hieroglyphs and while he did not suggest there was any continuous development from Egyptian wall painting, he did describe his work as a „renaissance of hieroglyphics‟. Hieroglyphics should not be assumed to stand as direct representatives of things or simply depict things, they were often phonetic characters and also highly symbolic. Contemporary interface culture uses iconic signs in abundance. Hartmann (2008) suggests these signs represent not objects, but often, algorithmic processes. As for pictograms used in public communication, semiotics allows us to distinguish between pictographic and ideographic signs. He warns while pictographs are figurative signs that may be interpreted for their literal meanings, reading them as a picture language may lead to confusion. In other words, it is misleading to think of pictographic writing as existing outside a certain culture and context. This potential dichotomy- misunderstanding was fully understood in the development of the symbols for the TacMap. Although there are some signs that relate to certain objects (like „car‟ or „key‟), as illustrated by Lupton and Miller‟s table (Fig 4), the implications for meaning become extremely complex when they are combined. Hartmann suggests „a car dreams of a key‟ might be called poetic, but it is hard to imagine a sign being interpreted like this in everyday communications. At the airport, we are more likely to interpret this sign as „car rental‟, thus treating it as an ideograph, and not as a pictograph. 1 Hahn died before Otto fled to the UK where he married Marie Reidemeister and where he developed the Isotype Institute in Oxford. After his death, Marie continued the work of the Isotype Institute. The Otto and Marie Neurath collection is now part of the research archive in the department of Typography & Graphic Communication at the University of Reading, UK. Figure 4. Lupton & Miller 1996 Communication systems for blind people The blind and partially sighted population is approximately 2 million in the UK and over 160 million over 177 countries (WBU). This number will increase in the near future due to the increasing proportion of older people who will be encouraged to be independent. It is predicted that by 2050, the numbers of people with sight loss in the UK will double to nearly 4 million (RNIB). The Braille system was based on a method of communication called night writing originally developed by Charles Barbier in response to Napoleon's demand for a code that soldiers could use to communicate silently and without light at night. Barbier's system was too complex for soldiers to learn and was rejected by the military, but in 1821 he visited the National Institute for the Blind in Paris, where he met Louis Braille.